FIG. 1 shows a prior art musical instrument 100. The musical instrument 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a six stringed electrical guitar. The musical instrument 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a body 112, a neck 114 extending from the body 112 and a nut 116 extending transversely across the neck 114. A headstock 124 extends from the neck 114, and is shown in FIG. 1. The stringed musical instrument 100 also includes a bridge 118. A plurality of strings 120 is supported between the nut 116 and the bridge 118. FIG. 1 also shows a plurality of frets 122 extending perpendicular across the neck 114.
As shown in FIG. 1, conventional stringed musical instruments are typically equipped with a neck or fingerboard which is used to control the length, and therefore the vibrational frequency of the strings 120 being plucked, strummed, bowed, or otherwise activated.
In the conventional fretted stringed musical instrument, the string length is achieved through the fingers of the fretting hand pressing them against pieces of wire, the fret 122, imbedded in slots in the fingerboard. The string, being pressed against the hard surface of the fret 122 and thereby stopped, is effectively shortened by the amount of distance of the fret to the bridge 118, which defines the effective vibrating length of the string, thus altering its pitch (or ‘frequency of vibration’).